Michael Gerber • Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

"How the Beatles Destroyed Rock and Roll"…

By Michael Gerber|2014-12-28T13:48:32-08:00June 3, 2009|books|

If that's destruction, bring on Ragnarok. ...is the provocative title of a new book spied by Ed this morning via the Very Short List. The book's not out yet, so I'll quote VSL as to its premise: "When the Beatles became 'purely a recording group,' author Elijah Wald writes, 'they pointed toward a future in which there need be no unifying styles . . . bands can play what they like . . . and we can choose what to listen to in the privacy of our clubs, our homes, or, finally, our heads. Whether that was liberating or limiting [...]

1

The hardest button

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-23T16:52:40-07:00May 29, 2009|Photos|

Provenance, anyone?

0

Michael Caine, Friend of Lennon

By Michael Gerber|2015-01-18T16:27:27-08:00April 30, 2009|Swinging London|

Everyone who saw this blacked out from the coolness. One of the few people as cool as The Beatles (is that heresy?) talks to New York about the Sixties, with a brief mention of our guys. An interesting nugget: "The sixties wasn’t drugs, you see. What ended the sixties was drugs." Here's the full snippet: Who was your first musical influence? Growing up there was only classical music on BBC Radio. We had to listen to the American Forces Network in Germany, which played pop songs, or the pirate radio boats off the coast. There was all us tough guys [...]

2

Eric Idle’s comments at George’s ceremony

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-03T21:01:09-07:00April 18, 2009|George|

Just in case anybody missed it, here are Eric Idle's one-liner filled remarks at the ceremony last week unveiling George's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Eric Idle and George Harrison really made some magic in this here Material World, didn't they? http://www.youtube.com/v/hWX6OsdTN64

1

Ringo singing at a party?

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-03T19:45:43-07:00March 1, 2009|1970s, George Harrison, Ringo Starr|

"All right, I'll sing it for you...just this once." Help me, Dullbloggers, you're my only hope...I was speaking to someone last week who was at a party in the Seventies with Ringo Starr which devolved into a singalong. I seem to recall there being a Beatleg out there with Ringo, George, and a bunch of partygoers warbling "Yellow Submarine." Does anybody else remember that as well? I thought the track was on Artifacts III, but I looked on Bootlegzone and didn't see it. Did I dream it? Ringo singing Yellow Submarine…given Ringo's rowdy Seventies, how rare could that be? At [...]

5

I love LA!

By Michael Gerber|2015-01-18T11:40:02-08:00September 21, 2008|Beatles in LA|

Paul McCartney, not jogging, but probably peeing (warm water?) Sorry the blog's been quiet for a while, folks--I've been working on some Beatle-related writing that is, uh...challenging...land wars in Asia spring to mind. Let's just say it's helping me address my perfectionist tendencies. But I think I've discovered "the way in" and hope to have something presentable by late October. Wish me luck.But anyway, listening to Breakfast with the Beatles this morning I heard a delightful story about somebody jogging far up in the Hollywood Hills. As they turned a bend, they saw a man far up ahead, peeing against [...]

0

A Youtube Gem

By Michael Gerber|2015-01-17T18:23:13-08:00June 9, 2008|1968|

http://youtu.be/OxmP9UDkoGw Here are the guys recording the "Hey Bulldog" video (and song) on 11 February 1968, just before heading off to India...A kick-ass tune from, to my way of thinking, their last session as The Beatles. Enjoy Lennon's muttonchops and Ringo's "All You Need is Love" skins. So good, we named the blog after it.

4

24 Hours in Liverpool

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-01T22:34:18-07:00May 12, 2008|Liverpool|

Whence they sprang. (all those years ago) The New York Times has a nice article on traveling to Liverpool. Anybody out there made the pilgrimage? Worth it?

0

New way to look at Beatles vs. Stones…

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-01T21:55:29-07:00April 7, 2008|Beatles vs. Stones|

For as long as there are Boomers... How about this: The Beatles are about the world as it could be. The Stones are about the world as it is. Convincing?

6

Best of What’s Left of?

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-01T21:49:47-07:00April 6, 2008|Anthology, Uncategorized, Unreleased/Outtakes|

The bottom of the bottom of the barrel? Or something better than that? Recently I ran into a problem that I thought the Beatles hive-mind here at Dullblog might be able to solve. My wife and I were driving to a party at a friend's house; the last time we'd met this friend, he'd discovered I was a Beatle freak. In the course of the conversation, he'd asked me the following question: after the Anthology series, what good stuff is left? Being lazy and easily distracted, I pointed him to the "Beatles Anthology Outtakes" set. But surely we could improve on [...]

1

About Michael Gerber